The present invention relates to an automatic processor by which silver halide light-sensitive photographic material (hereinafter, called light-sensitive material) is processed. Specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement of a processing agent supply mechanism of an automatic processor by which compactness and operability of the automatic processor can be improved, and wherein stable photographic properties can be obtained.
The light-sensitive material is processed by the processes of development, desilverization, washing, and stabilization after the material has been exposed. Black and white developing solution and color developing solution are used for development, bleaching solution, a bleaching fixer and a fixer are used for desilverization, city water or ion exchange water is used for washing, and a stabilizer is used for stabilization processing. Temperature of each processing solution is adjusted commonly at 30.degree. to 40.degree. C., and the light-sensitive material is immersed in these processing solutions and processed.
These processes are conducted commonly in the following manner: the light-sensitive material is successively conveyed between processing containers in which the above-described processing solutions are contained, by the automatic processor.
In this case, a method is adopted by which replenisher is replenished into each processing solution so that activity of the processing solution in the processing container is kept constant.
Specifically, the processing operation is conducted while the replenisher is supplied when necessary into the processing container from a replenishing container.
In this case, the replenisher itself stored in the replenishing container is commonly prepared at another place, and is replenished into the replenishing container when needed. When the replenishing container requires replenishing, the following manual method is adopted.
A replenishing processing agent is supplied in the form of powder or liquid, and when it is used, in the case of powder, solution is prepared when powder is dissolved in a fixed amount of water, or in the case of liquid, since the agent is condensed, the agent is used after it has been diluted with a fixed amount of water.
Sometimes the replenishing container is mounted on the side of the automatic processor, and it is necessary to secure a considerable space for the container. Further, in a minilab, or photofinishing shop, the replenishing container is built in an automatic processor main body, and in this case, it is necessary to secure the space for the replenishing container.
In photographic processing, the replenishing processing agent is composed of various components (which are called component parts, hereinafter), and these component parts react and are deteriorated when they are contacted with each other for a long period of time, and thereby their functions as a photographic processing agent are deteriorated. Especially, since there are many agents which easily react on each other by the oxidation-reduction reaction in the processing agent, they are generally sorted into component parts in the form of a kit, and they are dissolved in a fixed amount of water when they are used.
Component parts formed into a kit are put into, for example, a bottle, a bag, or the like, and they are collected into a package (for example, corrugated cardboard) and sold in the market as one unit.
The replenishing processing agent in which component parts are formed into a kit is dissolved, diluted, and mixed, and after that, a fixed amount of replenishing processing agent is prepared. However, the replenishing processing agent has the following disadvantages: each component part is put into a vessel such as a bottle separately, and therefore, many bottles are necessary depending on the replenishing processing agent, and a large space is necessary when they are transported; and further there is a problem of disposing of waste bottles. When the replenishing processing agent is composed of several kinds of component parts, since each component part is put into a vessel separately, it takes too much time to find each component parts, and thereby operational efficiency for solution preparation is greatly lowered.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic processor which is structured in the following manner: the automatic processor is structured by only portions which are fundamentally essential to the processor, in order to be matched with a recent tendency of compactness of the automatic processor when development processing of the light-sensitive material is conducted by the automatic processor.
Recently, environmental protection and resource saving are greatly desired in many countries, centering around European countries and America. In photography, there is especially a problem of a polypropylene container for the replenishing processing agent. That is, the polypropylene container is cheap, convenient for storing or transportation, and excellent in chemical resistance. However, the waste container is buried, discarded, or burnt as industrial waste. Since the polypropylene container scarcely decomposes, when it is accumulated and burnt, a large amount of carbon dioxide is generated, and therefore, it generates a cause of global warming and acid rain. Further, on the user side, large quantities of the polypropylene containers are piled in a narrow operating space, and therefore, the space is even narrower.
Further, it is desired also to stabilize the property of a processing solution in order to stabilize the finishing quality of the light-sensitive material processed by the automatic processor. Important points to maintain stably the property of the processing solution, (from a recent tendency of small amount replenishing), are the control of the replenishing rate, and prevention from condensation of a replenishing solution by evaporation.
For the control of the replenishing rate, a periodical check of the replenishing amount is necessary. However, in point of fact, the manufacturer who has sold the automatic processor is in charge of the periodical check in small photofinishing shops, and a serviceman checks the replenishing rate once a month. Accordingly, even when the replenishing rate is not correct during the use of the processor, it remains incorrect till the following check. Further, for prevention of condensation of the replenishing solution by evaporation, evaporation correction is conducted as follows: when warming-up of the processor, which has been stopped since the previous day, has been completed, the user adds warm water to the processing solution whose liquid level has been lowered by evaporation. In this case, although it is preferable to conduct the evaporation correction regularly every day, when sometimes evaporation correction is forgotten, or another person is in charge of the processor, the above rule is not observed, and thereby it becomes a factor by which variation of the density of the processing solution is caused.
On the other hand, a solid processing agent must not be deteriorated before it is supplied to a processing agent replenishing container. Especially, the processing agent formed in a tablet is stored in a tablet storage means such as a cartridge, and it should be supplied to the replenishing container according to a command for replenishing. In this case, since the cartridge is placed in the vicinity of the processor, other tablets must be prevented from becoming wet by splattering of the solution when a tablet is supplied.